Systems and methods of insulating railcars

ABSTRACT

Systems for and methods of insulating an uninsulated railroad car that include a plurality of insulation segments that are nonpermanently secured to interior surfaces of walls and a ceiling of the railroad car.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/898,303, filed October 31, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to insulation materials. More particularly, this invention relates to systems and methods of insulating railroad cars of trains.

There are many types of railroad cars each designed for transporting specific types of freight. In particular, perishable and other temperature-sensitive goods are generally transported in refrigerator cars or insulated cars. Whereas refrigerator cars have refrigeration equipment that maintain low internal temperatures, insulated cars rely on insulation to maintain the temperature of goods therein and provide protection from outside temperatures which may increase or decrease significantly during transportation. Conventionally, insulated railroad cars include an enclosed structure mounted on a railway car underframe. The enclosed structure generally has an outer shell (body), one or more layers of insulation, and interior paneling. The outer shell of such railway boxcars often has an exterior surface formed from various types of metal such as steel or aluminum. The interior paneling is often formed from wood and/or metal as desired for the specific application. Conventionally, uninsulated railroad cars include an enclosed structure mounted on a railway car underframe and an outer shell (body) similar to that of insulated cars, but do not include any layers of insulation or, typically, interior paneling.

Over time, existing insulated railroad cars have been removed from service due to factors such as age and damage. For various reasons, such as cost, new replacements for these retired insulated railroad cars have often not been produced. It is believed that insulated railroad cars have not be commercially produced for at least 45 years. This reduction in the number of insulated railroad cars in operation has placed a burden on companies that need to transport perishable goods by train.

One method that has been used to address this problem is to secure the perishable goods in insulated containers or boxes prior to loading the freight onto uninsulated railroad cars. This approach provides the convenience of utilizing existing uninsulated railroad cars, which are cheaper to produce and maintain than insulated railroad cars, and the efficiency of not requiring the perishable goods be transported in any one particular type of railroad car. However, these insulated containers require additional packing of the goods, may be expensive to replace when damaged, and often take up space reducing the amount of freight that may be transported in the railroad car.

In view of the above, it can be appreciated that there is a desire for improved systems and methods suitable for insulating perishable or otherwise temperature-sensitive goods when transported in existing uninsulated railroad cars.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides systems and methods of insulating existing uninsulated railroad cars in a manner suitable for transporting perishable or otherwise temperature-sensitive goods.

According to one aspect of the invention, a system of insulating an uninsulated railroad car includes a plurality of insulation segments and means for nonpermanently securing the insulation segments to interior surfaces of walls and a ceiling of the railroad car.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method of insulating an uninsulated railroad car with a plurality of insulation segments includes locating the plurality of insulation segments on interior surfaces of walls and a ceiling of the railroad car and nonpermanently securing the insulation segments to the interior surfaces of walls and the ceiling of the railroad car.

A technical effect of the invention is that an existing uninsulated railroad car may be quickly and temporarily converted to an insulated railroad car for the transportation of perishable or otherwise temperature-sensitive goods. In particular, it is believed that by securing insulation segments to the walls and the ceiling of the uninsulated railroad car with magnets, the insulation segments may be easily installed and removed as desired with little additional time and expense and provide significantly improved thermal protection to the perishable goods stored within the railroad car.

Other aspects and advantages of this invention will be better appreciated from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 represents a cross-sectional view of a railroad car insulated with an insulation system in accordance with an aspect of this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As stated above, conventional insulated railroad cars are becoming rarer as they are taken out of service and not replaced. The present invention provides systems and methods for insulating existing uninsulated railroad cars. As such, the present invention will be discussed below in reference to railroad freight cars that are described as either being insulated or uninsulated. As used herein, an insulated car is a freight car that is manufactured or otherwise equipped with insulation capable of protecting perishable or otherwise temperature-sensitive goods from temperatures outside the outer shell of the car, and the insulation takes the form of one or more layers of an insulation material, generally a foam material, that is typically permanently attached to interior surfaces of the outer shell and over which interior paneling may be applied to separate and protect the insulation material from the goods or containers thereof being transported within the car. In contrast, an uninsulated car is not manufactured or otherwise equipped with such insulation, i.e., insulation material permanently attached to the interior surfaces of the outer shell of the car. The term “permanently attached” (or the like) means that the insulation material is not removable without incurring damage to the insulation material and/or to the interior surfaces to which it is attached. FIG. 1 represents a cross-sectional view of a conventional uninsulated railroad car 10 that has been insulated with a system in accordance with aspects of the present invention. The car 10 has a generally box-shaped outer shell (body) including four walls 12 (only three of which are shown), a floor 14, and a ceiling 16, all of which define interior surfaces 18 that face and are exposed within an interior cargo space 40 within the car 10. Although the car 10 is represented as having a box-like shape, it will be evident that the systems and methods described herein is not limited to railroad cars having any one particular shape of outer shell.

As represented in FIG. 1, the system of insulating the car 10 includes a plurality of insulation segments 20 and 22 secured to the interior surfaces 18 defined by the walls 12 and ceiling 16 of the car 10, respectively. It is believed that insulating the floor 14 of the car 10 is unnecessary, however it is foreseeable that the floor 14 may also be insulated in a similar manner to the walls 12 and ceiling 16. The insulation segments 20 and 22 are not permanently secured to the interior surfaces 18 of the walls 12 and ceiling 16, but may be secured thereto in any manner that provides relatively simple installation and removal without incurring damage to the segments 20 and 22 or surfaces 18, such that the insulation segments 20 and 22 may be installed in the otherwise uninsulated car 10 if perishable or temperature-sensitive goods are to be transported, and may be removed from the car 10 when the goods reach their destination. As such, perishable or temperature-sensitive goods may be transported in any available existing railroad car by installing the segments 20 and 22 prior to transit.

According to an aspect of the invention, the body of the car 10 is formed of a metal and the insulation segments 20 and 22 are nonpermanently secured to the walls 12 and ceiling 16 of the car 10 with a plurality of magnets 30, which may be permanently or nonpermanently secured to the segments 20 and 22. Consequently, it will be appreciated that the magnets 30 enable the insulation segments 20 and 22 to be quickly inserted and removed from any existing railroad car, such as the car 10, as long as the body of the railroad car includes or is formed of a magnetic material, particularly a ferromagnetic material, that attracts the magnets 30. Although FIG. 1 represents a single insulation segment 20 located on each wall 12 and a single insulation segment 22 located on the ceiling 16, it is within the scope of the invention that each wall 12 and the ceiling 16 may be insulated with a plurality of insulation segments 20 and/or 22. In addition, though the segments 20 and 22 are represented as being planar panels having rectangular-shaped perimeters, other shapes are foreseeable, including arcuate shaped panels, or may be non-rigid materials as described hereinafter. Such arrangements may be desirable based on the application or the shape defined by the interior surfaces of a railroad car.

FIG. 1 represents spacing or gaps between the outer perimeter edges of adjacent individual insulation segments 20 and 22 for illustrative purposes only. Preferably, the insulation segments 20 and 22 are installed within the car 10 such that the perimeter edges of the segments 20 and 22 abut or nearly abut each other so that portions of the interior surfaces 18 of the walls 12 and ceiling 16 that remain uncovered by the segments 20 and 22 are minimized. It may be desirable to have the perimeter edges of the individual insulation segments 20 and 22 overlap to provide optimal thermal insulation. Although FIG. 1 represents the magnets 30 as being generally square-shaped and located at corners of the insulation segments 20 and 22, it is within the scope of the invention that the magnets 30 may be of any shape, size, magnetic power or strength, and number suitable for magnetically securing the insulation segments 20 and 22 to the interior surfaces 18 of the car 10. For example, the magnets 30 may be in the shape of elongated strips, or may be applied as an outer layer essentially covering an entire side of the insulation segments 20 and 22. However, it is also within the scope of the invention that the magnets 30 serve to space the segments 20 and 22 apart from the interior surfaces 18 of the car 10, such that a narrow air-filled interior enclosed space or cavity is defined therebetween that may provide an additional insulation effect.

The insulation segments may be formed of any material or construction that provides suitable insulation to the car 10 for transporting perishable or otherwise temperature-sensitive goods. According to an aspect of the invention, the insulation segments 20 and 22 may be formed of a high-density, rigid foam board, such as a polystyrene foam material, having a thickness suitable for providing thermal protection to temperature sensitive goods within the car 10, for example, at least about 76.2 mm. The insulation segments 20 and 22 may further include a reflective radiant barrier. For example, a high-density foam board may include as a radiant barrier one or more layers of low-emissivity facer materials, preferably each layer having an emissivity of 0.1 or less, laminated on one or both oppositely-disposed exterior surfaces of the foam board that face the interior surfaces 18 or interior cargo space 40 of the car 10. Notable examples of radiant barrier foam boards include polystyrene foam materials that include low-emissivity facer materials formed of aluminum foil or a low-emissivity metallized film. With such an arrangement, the thermal insulation properties of the system may be altered by increasing or decreasing the thickness of the foam board, and/or tailoring the thickness of the magnets 30. For example, increasing the magnet thickness increases the width of an air gap between the insulation segments 20 and 22 and walls/ceiling 12 and 16, which can promote heat transfer through the air space via convection. In view of the above, it should be apparent that the only limitations on the shapes and dimensions of the insulation segments 20 and 22 result from the construction of the car 10 and the goods that will be shipped therein. Other suitable materials for the insulation segments 20 and 22 may include bubble films (wrap/pack), closed-cell or open-cell rigid foam panels, woven or non-woven matting (blankets/quilts), combinations thereof, or other conventional insulation materials that may be removably installed in uninsulated railroad cars as described herein. The insulation segments 20 and 22 may include one or more layers of the above-listed materials, and may further include one or more low-emissivity, reflective (e.g., metallized or foil-laminated) layers. As used herein, bubble films generally comprise at least two layers of polymer film combined with air bubbles therebetween, rigid foam panels are formed by trapping pockets of gas in a solid polymer material, woven matting comprises interlaced strands of an insulating material forming a cloth-like material, and non-woven matting includes lofted insulation comprising long fibers of an insulating material, bonded together by chemical, mechanical, heat, or solvent treatment and includes foam materials which are not rigid enough to support their own weight as in the case of the foam panels or boards. If the insulation segments 20 or 22 comprise a radiant barrier layer on exterior surfaces that face the interior surfaces 18, the insulation segments 20 and 22 are preferably configured and installed to provide an air gap between the insulation segments 20 and 22 and walls/ceiling 12 and 16. It is believed that the air gap promotes the ability of the radiant barrier to effectively reflect radiant thermal energy. Although it may be impractical to ensure that the entirety of the insulation segments 20 and 22 do not contact the interior surfaces 18 during transit, it is preferred that such contact is limited in order to improve radiant thermal insulation of the temperature sensitive goods. The air gap may be maintained due to the number and/or thickness of magnets used to secure the insulation segments 20 and 22 to the walls/ceiling 12 and 16, and due to the rigidity of the insulation segments 20 and 22 in the case of foam boards or the tautness of the insulation segments 20 and 22 during installation in the case of woven or non-woven matting. These insulation materials are well known to those skilled in the art and therefore will not be discussed further hereinafter. In addition, the individual insulation segments 20 and 22 may be formed of different materials depending on the application.

During investigations leading to the present invention, thermal conditions were recorded during transit for both uninsulated railcars and railcars insulated in accordance with the embodiment schematically represented in FIG. 1. The insulated railcars included (a) segments of reflective (reflective radiant barrier laminated thereon) high-density foam boards located on the ceiling and segments of reflective high-density foam boards on the walls, (b) segments of reflective high-density foam boards located on the ceiling and segments of a reflective foam blanket on the walls, or (c) segments of a reflective bubble film on both the ceiling and walls. All insulated materials were secured to the bodies of the railroad cars with magnets, generally as represented in FIG. 1. The insulated railcars were found to provide significant thermal protection to temperature sensitive goods stored therein from fluctuating temperatures exterior to the railroad cars, determined on the basis that the temperatures of the goods stayed within temperature ranges required for preservation of the specific goods. The insulated railcar that provided the best thermal protection during the investigations included segments of reflective high-density foam boards located on the ceiling and segments of a reflective foam blanket on the walls

In view of the above, insulation systems in accordance with aspects of the present invention are suitable for insulating existing uninsulated railroad cars. The insulation segments may be relatively quickly inserted into an existing uninsulated railroad car prior to transporting perishable or otherwise temperature-sensitive goods by nonpermanently securing the insulation segments to interior surfaces of the car outer shell that face the interior cargo space of the car. If properly selected and installed for the intended goods, the insulation segments are able to provide thermal protection to the perishable or otherwise temperature sensitive goods during transit. Upon arrival at the destination, the insulation segments may be removed from the interior surfaces of the railroad car and, if desired, shipped back to their origin for subsequent reuse and installation in another car. Therefore, it is believed that the present invention provides means for quickly and efficiently insulating an uninsulated railroad car without the need of manufacturing expensive insulation railroad cars or additional packaging of the goods to be shipped. Furthermore, it is foreseeable that segments of the types described above could be used to supplement, replace, or fill voids in existing insulation of an insulated railroad car.

While the invention has been described in terms of specific embodiments, it is apparent that other forms could be adopted by one skilled in the art. For example, the physical configuration of the insulation segments 20 and 22 could differ from that shown, and materials and processes other than those noted could be used. Therefore, the scope of the invention is to be limited only by the following claims. 

1. A system of insulating a railroad car, the system comprising: a plurality of insulation segments; and means for nonpermanently securing the insulation segments to interior surfaces of walls and a ceiling of the railroad car.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the insulation segments are nonpermanently secured to the interior surfaces of walls and ceiling of the railroad car, and the walls and the ceiling of the railroad car are each entirely covered with at least one of the insulation segments.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the nonpermanent securing means comprise magnets secured to a surface of each of the insulation segments.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the insulation segments are nonpermanently secured to the interior surfaces of walls and ceiling of the railroad car, and the magnets define an air space between the insulation segments and the interior surfaces of the walls and the ceiling.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the insulation segments are formed of a reflective bubble film material.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the insulation segments are formed of a woven matting material having at least one layer of a reflective radiant barrier thereon.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the insulation segments are formed of a non-woven matting material having at least one layer of a reflective radiant barrier thereon.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the insulation segments are formed of a rigid foam board material.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the insulation segments are nonpermanently secured to the interior surfaces of the walls and the ceiling of the railroad car, the ceiling is covered with at least one insulation segment formed of a high density foam board with a reflective material laminated on at least one side thereof, and the walls are each covered with a reflective blanket material.
 10. A method of insulating a railroad car with a plurality of insulation segments, the method comprising: locating the plurality of insulation segments on interior surfaces of walls and a ceiling of the railroad car; and nonpermanently securing the insulation segments to the interior surfaces of walls and the ceiling of the railroad car.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the walls and the ceiling of the railroad car are each individually covered with one of the insulation segments.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the walls and the ceiling of the railroad car are entirely covered with more than one of the insulation segments.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the insulation segments are nonpermanently secured to the walls and the ceiling of the railroad car with magnets.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the magnets define an air space between the insulation segments and the interior surfaces of the walls and the ceiling.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein at least some of the insulation segments are formed of a reflective bubble film material.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein at least some of the insulation segments are formed of a woven matting material having at least one layer of a reflective radiant barrier thereon.
 17. The method of claim 10, wherein at least some of the insulation segments are formed of a non-woven matting material having at least one layer of a reflective radiant barrier thereon.
 18. The method of claim 10, wherein at least some of the insulation segments are formed of a rigid foam board material.
 19. The method of claim 10, wherein the ceiling is covered with at least one insulation segment formed of a high density foam board with at least one layer of a reflective material and the walls are each covered with a blanket material comprising at least one layer of a reflective material.
 20. The method of claim 10, further comprising transporting goods within the railroad car from a first location to a second location after locating the plurality of insulation segments therein.
 21. The method of claim 20, further comprising removing the plurality of insulation segments from the railroad car and returning the plurality of insulation segments to the first location. 